03718 - Architectural Composition I (A)

Learning outcomes

At the end of the module, the student learns different design approaches with a particular focus on urban housing typologies, comprising all relevant scales for an architectural design project. The applied design techniques bridge from considerations of urban context, over the elaboration of an architectural project, up to the scale of detailing and materialization.

Course contents

The lab-based course on Architectural Design III will focus on the synthesis of urban complexity and architectural design. Dealing with typologies, the design project will address a housing+ scheme in Berlin with an additional public program summing up to a multi functional urban building complex. The exploration between a site specific solution, customized to the situational demands on one hand versus a generic, scaleable architectural approach an the other hand will be part of the design exploration and the discourse within the lab.

A deepening site survey will cover a historical research, the site specific urban conditions (regarding e.g. orientation, traffic, noise, accessibility, public spaces, etc.) as well as general considerations such as orientation, noise, climate issues and sustainability.

An excursion to Berlin will provide the necessary insights for reading and understanding the context and the project related conditions and constraints.

The architectural design project will focus on high dense urban housing+ typologies reflecting their relation to the urban realm of Berlin. The relation of public and private spaces are as relevant as the integration of public space, multi functionality, and accessibility. Important drivers to establish a high living quality need to be developed in order to manifest a strong and meaningful relation between the building and the city. In brief: Housing+ addresses new housing typologies and includes additional functions that actively contributes to improving life in the multi-cultural metropolis in order to make it a more liveable and vibrant place.

It ist the overall objective of the design studio, that the design projects must address the question of how and to what extend re-densification in central urban locations can be achieved while preserving or creating suitable public spaces simultaneously.

The two locations bridge the remaining pre-war tenement buildings of the neighbourhood and the sharply contrasting open areas of the abandoned waste lands. These open spaces offer the opportunity to combine well-thought-out residential typologies with high-quality functional and communal outdoor and indoor areas. Next to housing, the developments should as well consider an appropriate functional mix of uses to avoid mono-functional urban areas, as the flexibility and adaptivity of spaces over time. Both of which are crucial design parameters in architecture, HOUSING+.

The project work will be accompanied by a series of lectures highlighting specific architectural issues of the design development and serving as a source of inspiration.

Readings/Bibliography

An extended bibliography, filmography and discography will be handed to the students as a source of inspiration at the beginning of the semester.

A selection of exemplary readings:

Typology +
Peter Ebner et al., Birkhäuser Verlag, 2009,
ISBN 978-3-0346-0086-6

Raumpilot Wohnen
Walter Stamm-Teske et al., Wüstenrot Stiftung, Kraemer Verlag, 2010,
ISBN 978-3-7828-1528-4

Floor Plan Atlas
Friederike Schneider, Birkhäuser Verlag, 1994,
ISBN 3-7634-2625-5

Quartiere zum Wohnen
Jörg c. Kirschenmann, Christian Muschalek, Deutsche Verlags-Anstalt, DVA,
ISBN 3-421-02497-9

EUROPAN
Result books
www.europan-europe.eu/en/publications/

Teaching methods

The students will work on two representative locations in Berlin situated in Moabit, a thriving neighbourhood north of the Tiergarten, close to the main station. Both locations are very central situated in the urban tissue of Berlin and represent the current and past changes and challenges Berlin has faced over the last decades.

The students will work in groups on the design developments, negotiating the favorable architectural project.

The design approach evolves in two phases:
1. Urban design - masterplan and research
(groups of 4 students)
2. Architectural design - zoom in corporate masterplan
(groups of 2 students)

The structured setup of the lab addresses the development of a consecutive architectural project step by step.

The design will comprise the development of an urban composition and volume studies, housing+ typologies, access systems, façade development and outdoor spaces.

Following the principle of ‚allowing yourself a failure every day’, it will be a substantial part of the lab to experiment and explore different architectural solutions and discus the variations as step-by-step optimisations.

Working in series and comparing different architectural variations is the basis for a fruitful working process in the lab.

Assessment methods

The topics covered in the lab and developed in the projects and the design reflections will continuously be verified through:

collective discussions and individual design crits in the classroom per group

intermediate presentation

discussion during the final presentation of the projects (examination)

The final projects will be assessed along the following main criteria:

Consistency of the design process

Development and quality of the conceptional idea

In-depth study of the design research and quality of the architectural proposal

Quality of graphical representation

Quality of presented physical models (working models + representational models)

Overall working process

Knowledge of the disciplinary aspects addressed

Ability of reflection about the proposed design solution

 

Office hours

See the website of Ralf Pasel Krautheim

See the website of Mareike Tanja Krautheim